We presented an improved algorithm to model the serpentinization reaction and its role in the thermal evolution of planetesimals in the early Solar system, based on the model by [1]}. In our model we incorporated several previously overlooked or neglected effects: (i) the calculation of heat capacity of water is more accurate in this work; (ii) we have taken into account the depth dependence of lithospheric pressure; (iii) the latent heat of vaporization of water was calculated in a more exact way, and (iv) we improved the method to calculate the amount of microscopic liquid interfacial water at subzero temperatures which eventually allowed a smaller amount of water to react compared with previous model.
Our model is able to follow the local chemical evolution of the serpentinization process and the algorithm was inserted into a more complex internal heat evolution model which considered radioactive decay and heat transfer. We demonstrated that the improvements in our models lead to results different from those of earlier models, both in serpentinization reaction timescales and in final heat production.
The presence of interfacial water at temperatures below the melting point of bulk water ice may be able to start the reaction, though at a lower rate, and may eventually be able to produce a notable temperature increase.
